Cheshire Phoenix made it four wins on the bounce as they defeated the Bristol Flyers 84-76 in the BBL Championship.

The Phoenix, with recently announced All-Star 5 Levi Bradley, were too much for the team from the South-West as they moved up to fourth in the BBL table, level on points with second place Sheffield Sharks.

The Flyers fall down to seventh in the table.

It was a team performance for the line-up from Cheshire as guard Namon Wright weighed in with 20-3-3.

Levi Bradley also weighed in with 18 points and back-up big man Noah Dickson with a crucial 7-7-4 in just 15 minutes of action.

Flyers’ pair Marcus Evans and Trejon Jacob combined for 45 points (shooting 10-18 from 3-pont range), with 9 rebounds, and 12 assists.

However, that wasn’t enough for the team to avoid their second consecutive defeat.

After an evenly contested first quarter finished 13-17 to the away team, the Phoenix stamped their authority in the second.

A 25-15 second quarter from the home side, which saw the Phoenix hit three of their six game 3’s (albeit shooting a woeful 26% over the game), meant Ben Thomas’ team went into the half firmly in control at 38-32.

After an underwhelming end to the first half, Flyers’ coach Andreas Kapoulas would have had stern words for his side after a 33% shooting second quarter which included five turnovers.

Whatever words he said it obviously had an impact, as his side came out flying against the Phoenix side.

Shooting guard Jacob erupted for 12 points – of his game-high 23 – including four 3’s, to propel his team from a deficit of five to a lead of one.

Late free throws from Phoenix guard’s Teddy Okereafor and Larry Austin meant the game was evenly poised 59-58 as both teams awaited the fourth quarter.

Cheshire came racing out of the blocks in the game’s final quarter as six unanswered points at the start (including four from Wright), meant the home side’s lead had extended to seven with the score at 65-58.

As the quarter went on, the game intensified.

Inefficient scoring by both teams resulted in the game being there for the taking for either side.

A quick fire eight points from Evans brought the Flyer’s to within one point, with the chance to grab a momentous win on the road growing ever closer.

However, from that point, the away side conceded a barrage of missed shots and turnovers that meant that even two last minute 3-pointers from Jacob could do nothing to salvage the victory.

Although the Flyers’ shot an above-league average from 3 (39% to Phoenix’s 26%), they visited the free-throw line far fewer than their opponents and only shot 45% from the rest of the field, compared to Phoenix’s impressive 62%.

The Phoenix next host eight-placed Plymouth City Patriots at the Arena next Sunday, whereas the Flyers’ host the high-flying Manchester Giants next Saturday.

(Featured image courtesy of GonchoA through creative commons licence)

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